Liverpool’s ‘Famous Five’: How Jurgen Klopp built Europe’s most formidable attack

Blink and you would have missed it.

Luis Diaz to Darwin Nunez to Mohamed Salah. Goal. Liverpool were back on terms with Brighton & Hove Albion last Sunday and, once again, Liverpool’s formidable attack had carved open an opposing defence.

It is not just those three, either. Take out Diaz and replace him with Cody Gakpo (when fit), or remove Nunez and swap him for Diogo Jota (when not suspended) — there is no discernible drop in quality. 

With five players of such excellence at their disposal, it is difficult to argue against Liverpool having steadily amassed the best attacking options in Europe.

In the space of eight transfer windows, Jota (summer 2020), Diaz (January 2022), Nunez (summer 2022) and Gakpo (January 2023) arrived for a combined total of an initial £181.5million ($223m). 

Having an attack which is the envy of the world is hardly unprecedented at Anfield. Fans hailed the ‘SSS’ 10 years ago, when Luis Suarez, Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling were in their pomp; briefly there was also a ‘Fab Four’ when Philippe Coutinho, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Salah joined forces. When Coutinho left, those last three formed an attack as good as any in the world for several seasons.

But a ‘Famous Five’? That is unprecedented, particularly as all are not just capable of plundering goals, but also offer distinct and diverse attacking attributes.

So what does each player offer — and how do they work best in combination?

Mohamed Salah: An all-round king

There is little that hasn’t been said about Salah. He is a phenomenal forward who has become one of the best players in the world during his time at Anfield.

The numbers speak for themselves. Since his arrival in 2017, he has scored 192 goals in 315 appearances, while supplying 78 assists

No player has scored more than his 142 Premier League goals since he’s been a Liverpool player. There are no signs of him stopping either, with five goals and four assists in his first eight games this season.

An underrated quality of Salah is that he is not just an excellent finisher, he is a provider too. The bar chart below shows he tops the list for goal contributions in the Premier League since the start of the 2021-22 campaign.

He has more assists than any player in that time (29), while he is also quite involved in build-up play.

While still being heavily relied on for his goals, Salah now has a supporting cast that he wants to provide for. His passing has been an ever-improving aspect of his game and his assists against Chelsea, Newcastle and Wolves in particular outlined his vision and weight of pass.

Diogo Jota: Pressing ‘monster’

The 26-year-old is the older face of the new guard and was signed to both beef up Liverpool’s attacking options and begin the process of building the next forward line. 

His ability to get into dangerous shooting positions regularly and finish clinically earned him the nickname ‘Jota the Slotter’ — something which made his 33-game goalless run, across a year, all the more bizarre. 

His penalty-box movement, anticipation and timing of his runs are crucial to how he is able to consistently put himself in the right position. His shot map from when he joined in September 2020 illustrates this, and he is comfortable scoring with both feet and his head. 

All but two of his Premier League goals have come from inside the box, with 10 from inside the six-yard box. Since he joined Liverpool, only Callum Wilson (0.19) and Erling Haaland (0.19) have a higher non-penalty xG per shot of players with 100+ shots on goal in the Premier League; Jota’s is 0.18. This suggests that on average, his shots are of a high quality.

It’s not just scoring, though. Assistant manager Pep Ljinders labelled Jota a “pressing monster” and the statistics back it up. Jota scores highly on the ‘true’ tackles metric, which combines tackles won, tackles lost and fouls made while attempting a tackle. Since the start of last season, no forward has committed to more than his 8.1 ‘true’ tackles per 1,000 opposition touches. Essentially, he loves to put a foot in to try and win the ball back.

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Luis Diaz: Trickery and tenacity

The opportunity to sign Diaz at the end of the January window catapulted the forward-line rebuild into action six months ahead of schedule. Tottenham were keen, Liverpool showed they were keener.

The 26-year-old spent his first six months dazzling during the quadruple chase, then a large portion of the next year on the treatment table and finding fitness and form.

Combining trickery with tenacity, Diaz is a forward who never gives the opposition defender a moment to breathe.

On the ball, he possesses fearlessness and aggression. He wants to be isolated one-on-one and attack opposition full-backs. Since Diaz arrived in the Premier League, only eight players have averaged more than his 3.2 one-v-one take-ons per game. 

The attacking carries map below highlights his tendency to drive in from the left-hand side and get a shot away.

A key step he looks to have taken is getting into goalscoring positions regularly. His goals against Chelsea and Bournemouth were Sadio Mane-esque; mirroring the types of runs his former team-mate made consistently. 

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Darwin Nunez: Agent of chaos

Nunez, the enigmatic creator of chaos, is the opposite kind of No 9 to Firmino. The Uruguayan’s pace and movement make him a huge threat playing on the shoulder of the last defender. 

Work has been needed to polish the rough diamond Liverpool signed from Benfica last summer for an initial £64million. 

No matter what he always makes things happen. No player has taken more shots per game since he joined Liverpool (4.5), while he’s averaged the highest combined non-penalty xG (expected goals) and xA (expected assists) per game of any player (0.95). 

Throughout his Premier League career, he’s been expected to provide almost a goal contribution a game based on the quality of his chances and his passes to teammates. Even if he’s not taking everything, he’s a chance magnet

He has featured on the left and centrally under Klopp, although he looks to have found his home as the No 9. His touchmap shows how active he is across the front line.

It illustrates how many of his touches are in and around the penalty area. Only Gabriel Jesus and Salah have averaged more touches in the penalty area per game than Nunez (8.4) since he joined.

He has taken significant strides forward this season both and off the ball. His pressing is more in tune with the rest of the team and he is developing into a complete forward. When he is not getting on the scoresheet, he is affecting games through his movement, hold and link-up play. 

Cody Gakpo: The new Firmino

It became clear very quickly to Klopp and his coaching staff that they had found a Firmino replacement after the Netherlands international arrived in January 2023.

Despite his initial appearances coming as a left winger, he moved to central striker. It was a position he was convinced suited him best by Klopp. His displays have backed it up. 

In the false-nine role, Gakpo is adept at dropping into pockets of space to receive possession. When he drops deep, he progresses the ball forward effectively either through dribbling or passing.

As his progressive pass map shows below, Gakpo plays a lot of passes from deep central areas, and plenty of dangerous passes into the penalty area.

One frustration aimed at Firmino was his lack of goalscoring threat. Salah and Mane did the heavy lifting when playing alongside the Brazilian, but Gakpo is able to mix his creativity with getting into goalscoring positions. At Liverpool, only Salah has scored more than his nine Premier League goals, or taken more than his 50 Premier League shots since he arrived. 

The 24-year-old’s intelligent decision-making also applies off the ball. He adapted to Liverpool’s pressing structure instantly and his tireless work-rate and hold-up play have made him a player Klopp trusts in big matches.

How they work in combination

Despite Diaz, Jota and Salah all being at the club from January 30, 2022, they did not start any of Liverpool’s games together from then until the end of that campaign. 

Perhaps surprisingly, they have not featured as regularly as you might expect in a front three: of the 63 matches Liverpool have played in all competitions since the start of last season, three of the ‘Famous Five’ started together in a front three on just 32 occasions (not including the two occasions Klopp played a front four). 

There are some good reasons why. Firmino remained a regular, certainly in the first half of last season, while Gakpo only joined in January. His flexibility has also allowed Klopp to use him as an advanced midfielder on four occasions (against Chelsea and Bournemouth this season, and Real Madrid and Brentford last term). Then there are injuries: Diaz and Jota both missed large chunks of football in the last two years.

If we zoom in on games played in all competitions in 2023, unsurprisingly Salah has started the most of any of the Famous Five — but the table below highlights that Klopp has not settled on a definitive first-choice front three. 

The most common trio used in the league in 2023 is Jota-Gakpo-Salah on seven occasions, although they have only started once together this season (at Wolves). The second most regular combination, Diaz-Nunez-Salah (six), is the most used combination in the top flight this season (three).

Of the 10 possible combinations available to Klopp, he has used six. The common denominator is Salah, who has featured in all six trios, a testament to his quality and reliability.

Analysing points per game and goals per game (GPG) comes should be done with caution, given the factors that can influence results (such as opponents or availability of other players) but only the Nunez-Gakpo-Salah combination averages less than two points per game (1.8). They all started and scored in the 7-0 demolition against Manchester United, but could not replicate it in the demoralising 1-0 defeat a week later at Bournemouth. 

The lesser-seen Jota-Nunez-Salah partnership is the only combination with a 100 per cent record, albeit with the fewest GPG (1.5).

When Jota, Gakpo and Salah start together, Liverpool average 2.4 GPG, which is the highest, while Diaz-Nunez-Salah is the only other starting combination where Liverpool average less than two GPG. 

What about pairings?

In the Premier League, since Gakpo’s arrival on January 1, he and Salah have proven to be the most creative pairing. They have combined to exchange the most passes (105) and create the most chances (26) for each other. 

The partnership between Nunez and Salah has continued to blossom, with the latter assisting the former’s winner against Newcastle last month. They have combined for 77 passes and 15 created chances. It was Salah’s first league assist for Nunez despite creating 12 chances for him. Nunez has created three chances for Salah; two have been assists. 

Nunez has seven assists in all competitions since arriving and all of them have been for Salah. The latest came in the 2-2 draw at Brighton. 

At the opposite end of the scale, Diaz and Jota have only exchanged eight passes, although it has led to the former creating two chances for the latter. They have only started two games together.

And substitutes?

One of the biggest benefits of Liverpool’s increased depth is that substitutions do not weaken their front line.

Since Gakpo’s arrival, Liverpool’s five have scored seven goals when coming off the bench in all competitions. The most notable were Nunez’s double against Newcastle and Jota’s stoppage-time winner against Tottenham. 

Firmino, who departed for Saudi Arabia in the summer, remains the joint-most impactful in 2023.

Liverpool have averaged two GPG with all five at the club — making them the ninth most prolific team in Europe (behind Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Brighton & Hove Albion, Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen and Paris Saint-Germain).

But their tally this season has already crept up to 2.3 GPG — and it shows no signs of stopping.

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(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Samuel Richardson)